The inhibitory effects of potassium chloride versus potassium silicate application on (137)Cs uptake by rice.

After the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant owned by the Tokyo Electric Power Company on 11 March 2011, potassium fertilizer was applied to agricultural fields in the southern Tohoku and northern Kanto regions of Japan to reduce the uptake of radiocesium by crops. In this study, we examined the effects of two types of potassium fertilizers, potassium chloride (a readily available potassium fertilizer) and potassium silicate (a slow-release potassium fertilizer), as well as a split application of potassium, on the accumulation of (137)Cs by rice plants in two pot experiments. The (137)Cs concentrations in the brown rice and in the above-ground plants were significantly lower after potassium chloride application than after potassium silicate application. The potassium ion (K(+)) concentrations in soil solutions sampled 9 and 21 d after transplanting were significantly higher for the potassium chloride application than for the potassium silicate application. The K(+) concentrations in soil solutions observed in the application of potassium silicate were similar to those in the treatment when no potassium was applied. This finding indicates that the application of potassium silicate did not sufficiently increase the available K(+) for rice plants in the soil, which led to a greater uptake of (137)Cs after the potassium silicate application than after the application of potassium chloride. The (137)Cs concentration in brown rice was higher in the split application of potassium fertilizer with the second application at the full heading stage than that without split application and the split application with the second application before heading.

Accumulation of (137)Cs by rice grown in four types of soil contaminated by the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in 2011 and 2012.

The ability to predict radiocesium transfer from soil to agricultural products is necessary for assessing management options in a radiocesium contaminated area. In this study, we evaluated the differences in transfer factors among soil samples and the differences in transfer factors between the first and the second years of contamination in rice. We employed pot experiments using four types of soils that are representative of the agricultural soils present in the Fukushima Prefecture contaminated by (137)Cs released from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant after the March 2011 accident. The experiments were conducted during the 2011 and 2012 growing seasons. The geometric mean of transfer factors for brown rice and inedible rice part was 0.011 and 0.031, respectively, in 2011 and 0.0061 and 0.020, respectively, in 2012. The average decreasing rate of the transfer factor was 40% and 30% in brown rice and inedible rice part, respectively, from 2011 to 2012, presumably owing to the irreversible sorption of (137)Cs to clay minerals.

Theoretical model of the effect of potassium on the uptake of radiocesium by rice.

After the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company on 11 March 2011, potassium was applied to fields in the Tohoku and Kanto areas of Japan to reduce radiocesium uptake by crops. Despite the intense studies relating to the effect of potassium application on availability of radiocesium in the soil, physiological changes of radiocesium uptake by crops in response to K(+) concentration around roots remains elusive. In the present study, we developed physiological models describing the effect of K(+) on the uptake of radiocesium by rice. Two Cs(+):K(+) competition models were evaluated using a wide range of data obtained from pot and field experiments: the model assuming a uniformity in the gene expression of K(+) transporter (Model I) and the model assuming the increase in the gene expression of K(+) transporter in response to K(+) concentration below threshold (Model II). The root-mean-square deviation between the measured and estimated values was larger in Model I than in Model II. Residuals were positively correlated with K(+) in Model I but showed no deflection in Model II. These results indicate that Model II explains the effect of K(+) on the uptake of radiocesium better than Model I. Model II may provide the appropriate countermeasures in inhibiting the transfer of radiocesium from soil to crop. The effect of changes in the variables in Model II on the relationship between available K(+) in soil and (137)Cs uptake by plant was simulated. An increase in available (137)Cs(+) in soil enhanced the response of (137)Cs uptake to K(+). The effects of Michaelis-Menten constant for Cs(+) were the inverse of the (137)Cs(+) effect. The effect of Michaelis-Menten constant for K(+) showed the same tendency as that of (137)Cs(+), but the effect was much less than that of (137)Cs(+). An increase in the threshold of K(+) below which the gene expression of K(+) transporter increases enhanced the response of (137)Cs uptake to K(+) in the high-K(+) range.